China set to welcome this week’s men’s VNL Finals in Ningbo: all rosters of 8 finalists
6 min read
2026 Volleyball Nations League Finals take place from Wednesday to Sunday in Ningbo Beilun, China.
The first two of the four quarterfinals will take place on Wednesday, July 29. The next two – on the following day.
Slovenia and Turkiye will get the action started in Wednesday’s first quarterfinal.
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Slovenia finished third in the final Preliminary Phase standings on a 10-2 win-loss record and 26 points, and they are currently the number five team in the FIVB World Ranking.
They’ll play in quarterfinals for the fourth time. However, they have never made it to the podium and have three fourth-place finishes on their record, including the two in the previous two seasons – 2024 and 2025.
By qualifying for the 2026 Finals, Türkiye have already celebrated a historic VNL achievement.
At their previous two appearances, they took 16th and 17th place in the final standings.
This year, they rose to sixth place on 8-4 and 22, and they also climbed to as high as number eight in the World Ranking.
The last time Turkiye beat Slovenia was in a CEV European League match back in 2018!
🇸🇮| SLOVENIA (3rd Placed – 26 Points – 10-2)
2. Alen Pajenk (middle blocker)
3. Uros Planinsic (setter)
4. Jan Kozamernik (middle blocker)
7. Luka Marovt (outside hitter)
8. Rok Bračko (outside hitter)
10. Sašo Stalekar (middle blocker)
12. Grega Okroglič (libero)
17. Tine Urnaut (outside hitter)
19. Rok Možič (outside hitter)
20. Nik Mujanovic (opposite)
22. Janž Janez Kržič (middle blocker)
23. Jošt Kržič (middle blocker)
24. Nejc Najdič (setter)
25. Klemen Sen (outside hitter).
Head Coach: Fabio Soli.
🇹🇷| TÜRKIYE (6th Placed – 22 Points – 8-4)
1. Kaan Gürbüz (opposite)
3. Ahmet Tümer (middle blocker)
4. Ahmet Samet Baltaci (middle blocker)
5. Marko Matić (middle blocker)
6. Gökçen Yüksel (outside hitter)
7. Bedirhan Bülbül (middle blocker)
8. Cafer Kirkit (outside hitter)
10. Mirza Lagumdzija (outside hitter)
12. Adis Lagumdzija (opposite)
17. Murat Yenipazar (setter)
19. Berkay Bayraktar (libero)
20. Efe Bayram (outside hitter)
31. Abdulsamet Yalçin (libero)
33. Hilmi Şahin (setter).
Head Coach: Slobodan Kovač.
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The second quarterfinal on Wednesday will feature an Asian classic between the teams of Japan and hosts China.
Japan are the only undefeated team in this year’s VNL, topping the Preliminary Phase on 12-0 and 30, and they also climbed to number four in the World Ranking. Japan have collected two medals in the VNL so far – a 2023 bronze and a 2024 silver.
Last year, they failed to get past the quarterfinals, where they were stopped by champions-to-be Poland.
China qualified for the Finals as the host nation, closing the Preliminary Phase at the bottom of the table, in 18th place on 1-11 and 4.
In the World Ranking, they stand in number 35.
In their first appearance in the VNL Finals last year, China also qualified as the home team and took eighth place in the final standings after being eliminated by Brazil in the quarterfinals.
🇯🇵| JAPAN (1st Placed – 30 Points – 12-0)
1. Yuji Nishida (opposite)
2. Taishi Onodera (middle blocker)
3. Hideomi Fukatsu (setter)
4. Kento Miyaura (opposite)
5. Tatsunori Otsuka (outside hitter)
11. Shoma Tomita (outside hitter)
12. Ran Takahashi (outside hitter)
13. Tomohiro Ogawa (libero)
14. Yuki Ishikawa (outside hitter)
15. Masato Kai (outside hitter)
17. Keigo Nishimoto (middle blocker)
20. Tomohiro Yamamoto (libero)
21. Motoki Eiro (setter)
23. Larry Ik Evbade-Dan (middle blocker).
Head Coach: Laurent Tillie.
🇨🇳| CHINA (host nation – 18th Placed – 4 Points – 1-11)
1. Wen Zihua (opposite)
2. Jiang Chuan (opposite)
3. Wang Hebin (setter)
4. Li Lei (outside hitter)
6. Yu Yuantai (outside hitter)
7. Li Tianyue (libero)
9. Li Yongzhen (middle blocker)
11. Wu Zhai (setter)
12. Zhang Zhejia (middle blocker)
15. Peng Shikun (middle blocker)
16. Qu Zongshuai (libero)
18. Wang Changli (middle blocker)
23. Wang Bin (outside hitter)
24. Yang Baoqi (outside hitter).
Head Coach: Vital Heynen.
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Thursday’s quarterfinal program will open with a duel between Italy and the United States.
Italy are the reigning world champions and the World Ranking’s number two team. Last year they finished VNL runners-up in what was their first-ever medal in the competition, after two fourth-places in 2022 and 2023.
The Italians progressed to the Finals as the fourth-placed team in the league round, on 8-4 and 26.
Just a point behind, USA took fifth place on 8-4 and 25.
Interestingly, the Americans have never won the VNL either, but they have picked up three silvers (2019, 2022, 2023) and a bronze (2018).
Last year they did not make it to the Finals and finished in 12th place. Their last podium at a world-level event was achieved at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where they earned bronze, shutting out Italy in the third-place match.
Italy and the United States have met 60 times at major world level-tournaments and the head-to-head record stands at 32-28 in favor of Italy.
In the VNL alone, they are tied at 4-4!
🇮🇹| ITALY (4th Placed – 26 Points – 8-4)
4. Gabriele Laurenzano (libero)
6. Simone Giannelli (setter)
7. Fabio Balaso (libero)
8. Riccardo Sbertoli (setter)
9. Francesco Sani (outside hitter)
12. Mattia Bottolo (outside hitter)
14. Gianluca Galassi (middle blocker)
15. Daniele Lavia (outside hitter)
16. Yuri Romanò (opposite)
17. Luca Porro (outside hitter)
18. Giovanni Sanguinetti (middle blocker)
19. Roberto Russo (middle blocker)
20. Pardo Mati (middle blocker)
23. Alessandro Bovolenta (opposite).
Head Coach: Ferdinando De Giorgi.
🇺🇸| USA (5th Placed – 25 Points – 8-4)
1. Matthew Anderson (outside hitter)
3. Mason Briggs (libero)
4. Jeffrey Jendryk (middle blocker)
6. Cooper Robinson (outside hitter)
8. Torey Defalco (outside hitter)
11. Micah Christenson (setter)
13. Taylor Averill (middle blocker)
14. Micah Ma’a (setter)
17. Jake Hanes (opposite)
18. Cole Hartke (opposite)
20. Ethan Champlin (outside hitter)
22. Erik Shoji (libero)
24. Merrick McHenry (middle blocker)
26. Matthew Knigge (middle blocker).
Head Coach: Karch Kiraly.
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The quarterfinal round will close with an interesting clash between defending champions and the world’s number one team Poland and Ukraine on Thursday evening.
Poland have won the VNL twice – in 2023 and in 2025. In 2021, they took silver. They also have three bronze medals in their collection – from 2019, 2022 and 2024.
So, they have made the podiums at all of the six most recent (out of a total of seven) VNL editions.
Poland are also silver medalists of the last Olympic Games and bronze medalists of the last World Championship, taking second place in this year’s Preliminary Phase, on 10-2 and 29.
Ukraine, on the other hand, are already enjoying a historic VNL campaign: just a year after their debut in the competition in 2025, when they took 10th place, they advanced to the Finals for the first time, after finishing the league round in seventh place on 7-5 and 23.
🇵🇱| POLAND (2nd Placed – 29 Points – 10-2)
3. Jakub Popiwczak (libero)
4. Marcin Komenda (setter)
7. Bartłomiej Lemański (middle blocker)
9. Wilfredo León (outside hitter)
11. Aleksander Śliwka (outside hitter)
12. Artur Szalpuk (outside hitter)
16. Kamil Semeniuk (outside hitter)
18. Maksymilian Granieczny (libero)
21. Tomasz Fornal (outside hitter)
30. Bartłomiej Bołądź (opposite)
34. Szymon Jakubiszak (middle blocker)
35. Kewin Sasak (opposite)
73. Jakub Nowak (middle blocker)
96. Jan Firlej (setter).
Head Coach: Nikola Grbić.
🇺🇦| UKRAINE (7th Place – 23 Points – 7-5)
2. Maksym Drozd (middle blocker)
5. Oleh Plotnytskyi (outside hitter)
7. Yurii Synytsia (setter)
8. Dmytro Yanchuk (outside hitter)
10. Yurii Semeniuk (middle blocker)
13. Vasyl Tupchii (opposite)
14. Ilia Kovalov (outside hitter)
15. Vitalii Shchytkov (setter)
19 Yevhenii Boiko (outside hitter),
21. Yevhenii Kisiliuk (outside hitter)
23. Denys Veletskyi (middle blocker)
24. Yaroslav Pampushko (libero)
26. Maksym Tonkonoh (opposite)
27. Vladyslav Shchurov (middle blocker).
Head Coach: Raúl Lozano.
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